At least 13 prisoners died Thursday in a prison riot and fire in Honduras that has once again exposed not only the desperate conditions in the country’s prison system, but also the overall assault on basic rights of the population.

Seven journalists were shot to death and another severely wounded in Honduras earlier this year. These assassinations expose Washington’s claims that Honduras is on the road of democracy and reconciliation.

June 28 marks one year since the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The Obama administration defends the country’s current regime as a “democracy,” even as death squad murders and military violence continue.

With the restoration of diplomatic ties and the resumption of aid and credits, Honduras has been welcomed back into the fold of “democratic” nations, even as the organizers of last June’s coup remain at their posts and death squad murders continue.

Sunday’s elections in Honduras were marked by systematic repression and mass abstention. Nonetheless, the Obama administration hailed the vote as a “legitimate way out” of the five-month-old crisis that began with the June 28 coup.

The Obama administration has endorsed this Sunday’s elections in Honduras under conditions in which the regime that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya last June remains in power and is preparing to suppress popular opposition to an illegitimate vote.

Republican lawmakers who openly back the coup regime in Honduras have voiced satisfaction that the Obama administration has “reversed” its policy on the return to office of the country’s ousted president, Manuel Zelaya.